Here And Now

At 10:30 a.m. NYC Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and Sen. Adriano Espaillat (who is battling in a primary for his seat after losing a challenge to Rep. Charlie Rangel) will be joined by top-level NYC and NYS housing officials on a tour and inspection of a foreclosed residential building in Washington Heights. (566 West 190th St.)

Also at 10:30 a.m., members of Cuomo’s statewide Small Business Outreach Initiative will host a workshop at Fort Drum, Clark Hall, Room A1-32.

Headlines…

Queens Democratic Sen. Malcolm Smith has been in talks with state GOP Chairman Ed Cox about running for NYC mayor in 2013 on the Republican line, and also discussed the race with state Independence Party chairman Frank MacKay.

Another potential (Democratic) mayoral candidate, Manhattan BP Scott Stringer, introduces his infant son, Max, to Cindy Adams and boasts: “(I)f it happens, he’ll become first baby of New York.”

Still another (Democratic) would-be mayoral hopeful, NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, an avowed lefty, gave a speech designed to woo businesses – especially real estate developers.

Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein vowed to “continue the fight” for a special education bill vetoed by Cuomo and lamented a lot of “misunderstanding” about what the measure would do. She didn’t rule out an override attempt, which would be the first of Cuomo’s tenure to date.

Cuomo pledged to work with lawmakers “and those interested in better serving the needs of our state’s children, particularly those with special needs.”

NYC campaign finance regulators are girding for an expected wave of Super PAC spending in 2013 and for the first time will require disclosure of independent expenditures.

A Long Island special-education company misused millions of dollars in public money, employing 11 family members, leasing Cadillacs, and paying a son’s living expenses in California, then fabricating documents to cover his tracks, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office found.

Mayor Bloomberg is an outspoken gun control advocate, but in June, New York City sold more than 28,000 pounds of the Police Department’s spent shell casings – not to a scrap metal company, as it has in the past – but to a Georgia ammunition store.

Talk about strange political bedfellows: Independence Party activist Lenora Fulani and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, united against gun violence.

Long Island contributed nearly 14 percent of the $5.8 million that Cuomo’s campaign war chest received in the first half of 2012, according to filings with the state Board of Elections.

Sen. Mark Grisanti called for the reintroduction of a bill that requires Medicaid recipients to have their palms or fingerprints scanned, with biometric information embedded on cards, before they can receive medical care or get prescriptions filled.

Long Island residents are trying to disband Sanitary District 2 – the 15th attempt to dissolve a local government in New York since 2009.

With a $600,000 assist from the Robin Hood Foundation, where his daughter, Emma, is an executive, Bloomberg opened NYC’s only employment and services center exclusively for veterans.

A smoke shop in Baldwin selling synthetic marijuana, hallucinogens and mislabeled products has agreed to stop, under an order signed by a Nassau County judge, AG Eric Schneiderman announced.

A final report to be released today on the environmental impact of replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge does not include a widely touted plan to turn it into a greenway once a new span is built, but rather calls for demolishing the aging span.

Syracuse University has not announced significant changes to its policies for handling allegations of sexual abuse or other crimes in the nearly nine months since child sex abuse accusations against former basketball coach Bernie Fine made national headlines.

Three people who said they were pepper-sprayed by police officers during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in September are suing the city, the NYPD and several officers.

NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn opposes the “discriminatory” views of Chick-fil-A’s CEO, but won’t use her political clout to try to get restaurant booted from its only NYC location at NYU.

After being passed over for the post of Buffalo Public Schools superintendent, interim Superintendent Barbara Dixon submitted her resignation, effective Aug. 1.

For the first time, President Obama has contributed to his own campaign, “maxing out” (sort of) at $5,000 in a move meant as a symbolic gesture.

A new Q poll found Obama has hit the “magic” 50 percent mark in three key swing states: Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In Washington, Republican and Democratic leaders have agreed to extend current government funding levels through the first six months of the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, avoiding the prospect of a pitched budget battle shortly before the November elections.

A Colorado congressman plans to challenge Rep. Joe Crowley for the post of of vice-chair in the House Democratic caucus.

Cuomo will tap the top Democrat in Jefferson County, party Chairman Sean Hennessey, to serve as the superintendent of the Dulles State Office Building, according to multiple sources.

The end of the Iraq and Afghan. wars creates financial dilemmas for the neo-cons and the ol’ Cold Warriers. Congress threatens to cut $500 billion from Defense. To counter that, Russia needs to become a major threat.

In reality, Russia is a second-rate economic power, heavily dependent on energy exports.

Vadimir Putin’s DNA, hard-wiring, is from his KGB heritage.
He is an authoritian who protects, and likely gets payoffs, from the corrupt billionaires that took over the state bureaucracies after the central one-party system collapsed.

His DNA allows him to suppress dissent with ruthless power, including the murder of dissentant reporters.
This week, the most vocal dissenter, and wealthy, Alexei Navalny has been put on trial; and he could get 10 years in Putin’s guleg.

Also this week, a trial has begun for three punk rock girls, the Pussy Rock band,who satirized Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church.
These three delicate flowers, young kumquats, could get 7 years in Putin’s guleg.
And Madonna and Sting are going into Moscow, making their opposition public.

But Putin is not a Stalin or Brezhnev . He is also no Gorby reformer.
In his political wet dreams, Putin would like to reasemble the Soviet empire,including Eastern Europe. That will not happen.

In a dangerous world, diplomacy is a delicate dance.

Our goal should be to balance Russia, with the EU and China (and India when it gets its power running).

Romney’s trip achieves the oppposite..alienation of Russia and the Mideast Muslim nations; a likely war with Iran; and the closing of any door to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

If diplomacy is a delicate dance, Mitt perhaps should ride his wife’s horse as it performs the” dressage, a sport sometimes referred to as horse ballet.”

BronxVoter

Re: Strange political bedfellows — Ray Kelly and Lenora Fulani

In the article you linked, the NYTs inserts commentary from Hank Sheinkopf. Sheinkopf and Fulani are not such strange bedfellows. They’ve been in bed together before. They are both big supporters of the convict Pedro Espada. Both of them supported Espada in the 2010 primary. Fulani was quite open about it. Sheinkopf was less open. He even misled the NYTs which led to the NYTs publishing an article that said Sheinkopf was not involved in the 2010 primary (when, in fact, he was a big financial contributor to Pedro Espada). I guess the Times has forgiven Sheinkopf for misleading them.

MA_Benjamin

Out-of-town homeless shelter residents include illegal, undocumented immigrants who don’t want a one-way ticket home. The Coalition For The Homeless disingenuously diverts attention by talking about homeless families, instead of the single adults who flood the city shelter system. If the CFTH and Bloomberg really wanted change they’d renegotiate the consent decree that enforces this crazy policy. Or the City could simply break the consent decree, instead of paying to fly shelter residents to Eqypt, Guyana, or Russia.

gecannonphd

This quote from Dem. Senate majority leader is too good not to post:
“We feel comfortable in the Senate,” he said. “Where the problem is, is this: Because of the Citizens United decision, Karl Rove and the Republicans are looking forward to a breakfast the day after the election. They are going to assemble 17 angry old white men for breakfast, some of them will slobber in their food, some will have scrambled eggs, some will have oatmeal, their teeth are gone. But these 17 angry old white men will say, ‘Hey, we just bought America. Wasn’t so bad. We still have a whole lot of money left.’”

gecannonphd

The Gallup POTUS daily tracking has Obama up by 2 points over Romney…a two point move from Monday’s tie.The foreign trip foray seems to have harmed Mitt.
And Obama, right now, seems to be doing well in 3 big swing states..Pa.,Ohio and Fl.

Finally, a politician with practical, real-life work skills. Meet him in person in the gift wrapping department at MACY’s come Christmas time.

Upstate GOP

Malcolm Smith as the GOP mayoral candidate in 2013? Now I’ve heard everything…

MA_Benjamin

Imagine the irony if microstamping were state law and a shell casing sold by the NYPD was found at a murder scene involving a dead child. NYers must keep in mind that above all, Bloomberg is a capitalist which explains the shell casings transaction and his endorsement of the NRA-endorsed Senator Scott Brown (R-MA).

I guess Lenin wasn’t exaggerating when he said, “capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”

GOP_NYC

Give me a break.

There isn’t a SINGLE gun law that has EVER stopped an illegal gun shooting. Not one.

That’s because the people who engage in such behavior never follow the gun laws. (The poor law-abiding folks in NYC who are not connected to the mayor, or a celebrity (or even the daughter of a celebrity who has done time, like Martha Stewart) or rich don’t have the “privilege” of defending themselves from such cretins.)

If you want to get guns off NYC streets, then do this:
1. Treat the sale, puchase, theft or possession of an illegal firearm as prima facie evidence of a felony murder (whether someone has been killed or not) eligible for THE DEATH PENALTY. (And if it can be arranged, kill the SOB’s publicly and broadcast it.) And for those queasy liberals who object to restoring New York’s death penalty, show them the picture of little Lloyd Morgan, the four year old murdered in Brownsville, and ask them if that chid’s life is less valuable than some mook gangsta.

2. Treat any crime in which any firearm (or a “finger in a jacket”) is used as a Class A-I felony.

3. If you’re under 21 years of age and you’re arrested with a firearm, and you live with an adult parent of guardian, charge the parent or guardian with facilitation.

We have to change the firearms violence culture among young people the same way we changed the cigarette culture of the 1960’s. If you want to do that — if you’re SERIOUS about that — then you take drastic measures. Otherwise, you’re gonna end up with more dead toddlers in Brownsville and elsewhere.d